The present invention relates to mowing vehicles that are responsive to changes in terrain so that the vehicle body is maintained in a generally vertical orientation and, particularly, to a drive assembly for use in connection with such mowers.
Many riding mower designs have been created to eliminate the hazard of vehicle turnover while operating on a sloping terrain. Such mowers often include a frame that is adapted to remain in a generally upright orientation whether the mower is on a hill or flat surface.
Typically, such mowers, often called "slope mowers", include a frame pivotally mounted on either two or three wheels and include blade housings extending laterally from either side of the frame that are also pivotally connected thereto, so that the frame may pivot about a longitudinal axis while the blade housings remain generally parallel and close to the ground surface.
Such a frame and mower arrangement often includes an assembly for driving a rotary blade within each blade housing by connecting the rotary blade to a power source located within the frame. Such an assembly is typically belt-driven or has drive shafts oriented transverse to the frame that extend laterally therefrom to each blade housing. Each drive shaft must be telescoping in nature to respond to angular movement of the frame with respect to each corresponding blade housing. However, because the space between the frame and a blade housing is limited, such a drive shaft is deficient under certain sloping terrain conditions because a shaft short enough to fit within this limited space cannot telescope to the extent necessary to allow the frame to pivot away from the blade housing and thereby remain in a generally vertical position while the housing remains close to the terrain.